A conversation with ... Vinny Pharakhone, Vinny's Donuts

Updated 12:00 am, Sunday, February 23, 2014

Vinny Pharakhone is the owner of Vinny's Donuts, which opened on Broadway in January 2014.

Vinny Pharakhone is the owner of Vinny's Donuts, which opened on Broadway in January 2014.

Photo: Burt Henry, San Antonio Express-News

A conversation with ... Vinny Pharakhone, Vinny's Donuts

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — Vinny Pharakhone was barely 20 when he arrived in the United States in 1981. A Laotian immigrant who was forced to live in refugee camps after the Vietnam War, Pharakhone had escaped his war-torn country with hopes of starting over.

That first hope landed him in Memphis, Tenn., where he became an accomplished baker.

“That job,” Pharakhone said, “made me who I am right now.”

And that's the owner of Vinny's Donuts, a downtown shop on Broadway that he opened Jan. 22.

The journey to Vinny's wasn't quick or easy. It had several turns, with stops in Hawaii, Florida and Corpus Christi, all points in which he could hone his bakery skills while also becoming a successful sushi chef.

The recession, however, left him out of work in Flor-ida, leaving him no choice but to strike out on his own again.

Thai Lao Orchid and its next-door neighbor on Broadway were his answer. He left his wife and three kids in Jacksonville, Fla., and headed to Texas in August.

“I had a lot of experience with baking ... and I was enjoying what I was doing,” he said. “So I was thinking some day I have to have my own bakery, my own shop.”

That came in the form of the vacant space next door, which at one time housed the popular Twin Sisters restaurant. He transformed it into a shop loaded with sugar- and cream-filled delights.

The smell of fresh glazed doughnuts is enticing enough; Vinny's, which is open 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, also features kolaches, biscuits and sandwiches.

Pharakhone took a rare break from his seven-day-a-week, 16-hour-a-day role as cook/owner/manager to talk about his first restau-rant.

Did you specialize in doughnuts during all your bakery experience? And why doughnuts for your first venture?

Doughnuts were a big part, but we didn't just do doughnuts. I was making croissants, French baguettes, cakes, pastries, pie. Doughnuts were just a small thing. But I thought doughnuts were easy to make and easy to make money (laughs). And I look around here, there's not a lot of competition for doughnuts around here. In Florida, there's a lot of Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme. Over here, it's spread out.

More Information

Vinny's Donuts

124 Broadway

210-314-1781

Is there a Laotian influence in doughnuts?

None whatsoever (laughs). There might be some, but I don't know about it. There probably are some in California or somewhere else. ... If you go to Chinatown, you see a lot of Chinese, Vietnamese, doing a good bakery.

What makes your doughnut good?

I don't want to say it's secret because everybody makes doughnuts, so they know what it is. We order our mix from a distributer. But the secret's in the glaze.